Two of the Capital Region’s biggest developers are angling for control of one of Albany’s biggest eyesores.
Albany-based Columbia Development and Schenectady-based Redburn Development partners have submitted a joint bid for the dilapidated Central Warehouse building, the Albany Business Review reported.
The county is auctioning the hulking 11-story concrete building, which has long stood vacant, to recoup about half a million dollars in unpaid property taxes owed by owner Evan Blum. The Columbia-Redburn bid is one of two received by the county, which isn’t disclosing details, prior to last Thursday’s deadline.
The auction proceeding has been temporarily placed on hold after Blum filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the Albany Business Review reported this week.
Blum bought the 500,000-square-foot building in 2017 for $1 from Sunmark Federal Credit Union. The decaying building was originally a cold-storage facility built in the 1920s. Blum had planned to turn it into a gallery space for artists. [Albany Business Review] — Dennis Lynch